Review Summary

It's probably best that the plot of "The Hunted"  such as it is  doesn't get in the way of the action sequences, most of which involve Tommy Lee Jones chasing Benecio Del Toro throughout the Pacific Northwest with occasional stops for hand-to-hand combat that make you fear for the actors' safety. Mr. Del Toro is Aaron Hallam, a government-sanctioned killing machine being pursued by L.T. Bonham (Mr. Jones), an independent-contractor tracker brought in by the F.B.I. before Hallam slaughters a cross-section of the population of the Pacific Standard Time Zone. This isn't a movie  it's a police report  and the strictly-the-facts terseness of the story makes that more than clear. That tone is first reflected in the use of Johnny Cash's laconic moroseness over the opening title to set the mood, but it also establishes a level of expectation that the film can't live up to. The director William Friedkin might as well paint bull's-eyes on the backs of the actors, since it's obvious that "The Hunted" regards them as nothing but expendable.  Elvis Mitchell